Super resistant fin rot, please help!

[Emily Grace]

My half moon Betta, Crescent, has had some chronic fin rot on and off for the better part of a year. This is very long, but I am desperate. Please help! While at first I made some beginners mistakes with an unfiltered and too small tank, he’s been in a cycled 5 gallon for all but maybe a month of the time he’s been with me.
He has never grown back any fin he’s lost, and I’m never entirely confident the fin rot is gone (he’ll stop loosing any fin for weeks, but edges seem dark still).
Currently, we’ve been battling the last resurgence for about a month. Right now for treatment I am doing every other day 25% changes, checking his water every day religiously to make sure nothing is wrong, and adding paraguard, stress coat, and quick start as per instructions. Recently I did two back to back treatments of seagard metroplex, and one round kanaplex at the same time at the end just to be sure. This didn’t do anything except maybe slow progress, and I’m reluctant to do any more rounds as it definitely stressed him out at the end. In the past we’ve also tried maracyn two, which seemed to help but I wasn’t confident really worked (decreased but not stopped fin loss). I’ve also used aquarium salts both on their own and with paraguard, doesn’t seem to stress or help. I’ve also done salt baths, unsure if it did anything.
Most recently during the metroplex treatment he began having trouble swimming upright, instead going partially sideways but able to right himself. It was worse for a few days but seemed promising earlier today as he was barely tilting and getting around better again, but then after feeding and paraguard he flipped entirely upside down and couldn’t right himself at all. He was very still with periodic brief frantic swimming around the tank. It only lasted about a minute and now he’s upright and calm again. He is loosing fin veeeery slowly with dark and some bloody edges, but as he has nearly none left it’ll be body rot soon. I don’t see any signs of illness on the body aside from dull scales and a bloated tummy. I suspect maybe some kind of an internal parasite, because he actually didn’t eat for a week when I went home for thanksgiving and left a delayed release feeding tablet, only to come back and find a pile of food on the bottom of the tank because I didn’t realize he can’t swim down to the bottom. Since he still looked bloated but starved for a week, I’ve fed him daily but less than usual. I’ve tried to feed him peas multiple times, but have never been able to get him to eat them.

Any ideas Does he have some kind of fishy immune disorder?? Did I mess him up using antibiotics? Is there another medication I could try? Is using the paraguard for extended time ok? I realize he will likely die soon, but what can i do to help him be comfortable for this last bit? At what point should I consider using clove oil to euthanize (or should I at all).
I love him like he was a puppy, I just wanna do what I can to make him comfortable.

Water parameters
5 gal tank
Just one very small beta and some moss balls
Ammonia: 0/<.5
Total hardness: 75-150
Nitrates: ~10
Nitrites: 0
Chlorine: 0
Total alkalinity: ~40
Ph: ~6.8
Temp: 77 f
Filter media: polyester filter media pad, polyfill, bio max fluval

TL;DR-
I have a beta fish with extremely resistant and long term fin rot, and more recently some swim bladder issues. I’ve been as proactive with water care and cycling as I know how to be. Aside from keeping up with water quality, I’ve tried over the last year: aquarium salt, salt baths, paraguard, maracyn two, metroplex (one round orally, one round in the water), and kanaplex. The fin rot never seems to fully heal, but almost kind of like, goes dormant sometimes?? I wouldn’t say I was confident any of the treatments helped, but they may have slowed its progression. I don’t think the rot has reached his body, but as there is essentially no fin left it’ll get there soon. I don’t see any other signs of Illness besides dull scales and, now, a bloated tummy. To my knowledge there’s nothing sharp in the tank, I’ve run my fingers over everything and just checked that nothing could tear the fins. Currently all I am doing is paraguard and every other day 25% water changes. Any advice is appreciated!!

 

[Emily Grace]

Update: I also have some Indian almond leaves in the tank, and my roommate says she fed him for three days while I was gone (she could definitely have over fed as I didn’t leave any instructions for that, but the problem started before I left)

 

[Colin_T]

Fin rot is normally caused by poor water quality that damages the fins and allows bad bacteria into the tissue. Normally the best treatment is clean water and salt. Change 75% of the water each day and gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change. And use 1 to 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep salt in the tank for 2-4 weeks.

Using anti-biotics can lead to drug resistant bacteria that can't be treated. Anti-biotics get used at the fish farms, exporters, importers, shops and sometimes the home aquarium. If anti-biotics are not used correctly, you increase the likelihood of drug resistance in bacteria.

If the problem has continued after using the correct amount of salt and water changes, and anti-biotics have not helped, then it is probably a drug resistant strain and the fish cannot be cured.

If the fish has started rolling over, then it is dying and should be euthanised.

 

[Bettaguy08]

My half moon Betta, Crescent, has had some chronic fin rot on and off for the better part of a year. This is very long, but I am desperate. Please help! While at first I made some beginners mistakes with an unfiltered and too small tank, he’s been in a cycled 5 gallon for all but maybe a month of the time he’s been with me.
He has never grown back any fin he’s lost, and I’m never entirely confident the fin rot is gone (he’ll stop loosing any fin for weeks, but edges seem dark still).
Currently, we’ve been battling the last resurgence for about a month. Right now for treatment I am doing every other day 25% changes, checking his water every day religiously to make sure nothing is wrong, and adding paraguard, stress coat, and quick start as per instructions. Recently I did two back to back treatments of seagard metroplex, and one round kanaplex at the same time at the end just to be sure. This didn’t do anything except maybe slow progress, and I’m reluctant to do any more rounds as it definitely stressed him out at the end. In the past we’ve also tried maracyn two, which seemed to help but I wasn’t confident really worked (decreased but not stopped fin loss). I’ve also used aquarium salts both on their own and with paraguard, doesn’t seem to stress or help. I’ve also done salt baths, unsure if it did anything.
Most recently during the metroplex treatment he began having trouble swimming upright, instead going partially sideways but able to right himself. It was worse for a few days but seemed promising earlier today as he was barely tilting and getting around better again, but then after feeding and paraguard he flipped entirely upside down and couldn’t right himself at all. He was very still with periodic brief frantic swimming around the tank. It only lasted about a minute and now he’s upright and calm again. He is loosing fin veeeery slowly with dark and some bloody edges, but as he has nearly none left it’ll be body rot soon. I don’t see any signs of illness on the body aside from dull scales and a bloated tummy. I suspect maybe some kind of an internal parasite, because he actually didn’t eat for a week when I went home for thanksgiving and left a delayed release feeding tablet, only to come back and find a pile of food on the bottom of the tank because I didn’t realize he can’t swim down to the bottom. Since he still looked bloated but starved for a week, I’ve fed him daily but less than usual. I’ve tried to feed him peas multiple times, but have never been able to get him to eat them.

Any ideas Does he have some kind of fishy immune disorder?? Did I mess him up using antibiotics? Is there another medication I could try? Is using the paraguard for extended time ok? I realize he will likely die soon, but what can i do to help him be comfortable for this last bit? At what point should I consider using clove oil to euthanize (or should I at all).
I love him like he was a puppy, I just wanna do what I can to make him comfortable.

Water parameters
5 gal tank
Just one very small beta and some moss balls
Ammonia: 0/<.5
Total hardness: 75-150
Nitrates: ~10
Nitrites: 0
Chlorine: 0
Total alkalinity: ~40
Ph: ~6.8
Temp: 77 f
Filter media: polyester filter media pad, polyfill, bio max fluval

TL;DR-
I have a beta fish with extremely resistant and long term fin rot, and more recently some swim bladder issues. I’ve been as proactive with water care and cycling as I know how to be. Aside from keeping up with water quality, I’ve tried over the last year: aquarium salt, salt baths, paraguard, maracyn two, metroplex (one round orally, one round in the water), and kanaplex. The fin rot never seems to fully heal, but almost kind of like, goes dormant sometimes?? I wouldn’t say I was confident any of the treatments helped, but they may have slowed its progression. I don’t think the rot has reached his body, but as there is essentially no fin left it’ll get there soon. I don’t see any other signs of Illness besides dull scales and, now, a bloated tummy. To my knowledge there’s nothing sharp in the tank, I’ve run my fingers over everything and just checked that nothing could tear the fins. Currently all I am doing is paraguard and every other day 25% water changes. Any advice is appreciated!!

He bassicaly doesn’t even have fins anymore, like Colin T said it’s already too late. I recommend that you have a hospital tank next time if something happens to your fish.

 

[Emily Grace]

He bassicaly doesn’t even have fins anymore, like Colin T said it’s already too late. I recommend that you have a hospital tank next time if something happens to your fish.

What is the benefit of a hospital tank if there’s already just the one fish in there? I’d only have moved him from a 5 gal to a 2.5 gal.

 

[Bettaguy08]

What is the benefit of a hospital tank if there’s already just the one fish in there? I’d only have moved him from a 5 gal to a 2.5 gal.

Sorry for the late response! A hospital tank would benifet cause you can treat your hospital tank with any medicine, like methylene blue, and you want a hospital tank because methylene blue stains the aquarium and you wouldn’t want your main aquarium to have blue marks on it, and sometimes there is medicine for your fish that can kill beneficial bacteria, so if you use that medicine, you would want to use it on a separate aquarium. And another good tip, try to never let your fish get that bad. Always be watching them and making sure there healthy, if they look even off a bit, like they look ,lethargic (not active or doing things like hiding and not eating) then I highly recommend you go here to this forum and make a post on the problem. Also I noticed you said you treated your fish with a lot of medicine and it still got worse, the medicine/ fish curing stuff, you were using, what kind was it? Cause I think that if your using a incorrect medicine for your fish, it will not work, so maybe it could’ve been something else than what you thought it was as the problem with your fish, most likley it was probably something else if the medicine you gave it didn’t work, like internal. And btw, if you got your fish from a fish store like PetSmart or petco, be aware there are usually sick or have problems, unless you specifically cherry picked the best one there. Also you should make sure that before you get another fish to make sure there isn’t any more diseases in the water of that tank. Last thing I want to say is a tip that I use nowadays which is to always try and make sure you aquarium is healthier than your fish itself, I know it sounds weird but I think it’s smart because if your aquarium is in really good shape and is cycled properly and has live plants and all that great stuff, then your fish will greatly benefit aswell.

 

[Emily Grace]

for fin rot I’ve tried: just increasing water changes, water changes and aquarium salt, maracyn two, salt baths, two rounds of metroplex (one in his food, one in water), one round of kanaplex (in water) to make sure I covered all my bases, and seachem paraguard.
The maracyn two I used a little under a year ago and then the other two antibiotics more recently.

I’m religious with my water changes, as I said his fin rot never seemed to totally go away. Right now, I’m still doing daily 50% water changes, and treating the water with aquarium salt, paraguard, and stress coat. He hasn’t lost any more fin (I’m a lil obsessive and take photos to compare each day), but the edges are still discolored and he certainly hasn’t grown any back. He has, however, slowly been able to swim better again! He’s still kinda stuck at the top of the tank, but he’s less lethargic and definitely hasn’t rolled over at all.

I am considering moving him to a 2.5 gal hospital tank and doing 100% daily changes for a while, with the same water treatments. What do you think? Is that the right thing to do? It seems like there’s divided opinions on 100% changes

 

[Bettaguy08]

for fin rot I’ve tried: just increasing water changes, water changes and aquarium salt, maracyn two, salt baths, two rounds of metroplex (one in his food, one in water), one round of kanaplex (in water) to make sure I covered all my bases, and seachem paraguard.
The maracyn two I used a little under a year ago and then the other two antibiotics more recently.

I’m religious with my water changes, as I said his fin rot never seemed to totally go away. Right now, I’m still doing daily 50% water changes, and treating the water with aquarium salt, paraguard, and stress coat. He hasn’t lost any more fin (I’m a lil obsessive and take photos to compare each day), but the edges are still discolored and he certainly hasn’t grown any back. He has, however, slowly been able to swim better again! He’s still kinda stuck at the top of the tank, but he’s less lethargic and definitely hasn’t rolled over at all.

I am considering moving him to a 2.5 gal hospital tank and doing 100% daily changes for a while, with the same water treatments. What do you think? Is that the right thing to do? It seems like there’s divided opinions on 100% changes

I wouldn’t do 100% water changes, i think it can really stress the betta out more. Especially if your doing it daily. Maybe 60-75% water changes a day to keep the water clean. I also recommend you use something like methylene blue for him and some type of extreme fin rot cure water conditioner.

 

[Colin_T]

leave the fish where it is and keep doing daily water changes with salt.

Do a 75% water change each day though. It's more than 50% but less than 100% ad shouldn't stress it out too much.

Try not to give fish salt baths because you can damage them when you pick them up to move them, and the stress of going in and out of salt and fresh water harms them more than just having some salt added to their tank.

Considering the anti-biotics you have used, if it doesn't have a drug resistant infection, I would be surprised.

 

[Emily Grace]

Do a 75% water change each day though.

Thanks!! That makes a lot more sense than 100% changes.

 

[Emily Grace]

I also recommend you use something like methylene blue for him and some type of extreme fin rot cure water conditioner.

Thanks! Do you have any fin rot cure water conditioners you reccomend? Im not sure what that means

 

[Colin_T]

Salt and clean water is all fish need to recover from fin rot, assuming there is no major underlying infection.

Methylene Blue is a liquid medication that kills bacteria and fungus and is relatively safe for fish. However, it can stain the aquarium silicon (glue holding the glass together) blue, as well as ornaments. And it will wipe out the good filter bacteria.